the not-so-secret code

 

At the time I was making these, they didn't mean a thing. Gibberish. Letterforms to be sure. Just not connected to any real meaning. 

I've spent the last two days re-immersed in editing HTML for the web. Unlike writing or stitching, precision comes first.

One < or / out of place and *JENGA!*

When I first learned (from a book!) years ago, I remember spending hours chasing down an extra SPACE that I couldn't even see my eyes were so tired.

I was barely literate when I stopped learning and now I'm trying to play catchup. I like not having to rely on someone else to do these things. 

Next, the taxes.

The second Pfizer didn't even register this time, but for a slightly sore arm. 

I do NOT feel invincible.

revving up for color

 

Another peachy day in Georgia.

I got pretty crazy over at ProChem last season. Nothing missing here; a lot of warm weirdness on hand. 

Don't think I even got the chance to try Autumn or Valentine. They were on sale too late in the season. 

All the mindless winding is already done. Fingers crossed the warmth holds. If so, a dyefest this weekend with the focus on threads. No clue what cloth I have on hand. 

Scheduled for my 2nd Pfizer tomorrow.  Hoping it doesn't hit and echo as hard as the first one did. 

It's almost time for Louie, Mr. Wilson & Co. to go back outside on the deck. There will be no competition for my affections out there this year. Maybe I can get some hyacinth vines growing.. Jungleland!

scrambled day

A poor placeholding picture for what was a glorious day. A windows wide, blue sky beauty. 70s easy. Sandal weather and I was too absorbed in work to appreciate it. 

I gave a minute to the thought that I need to do a color inventory. Dyeing weather will be on us soon.

I had to drive to the office of the company I work for to swap out some equipment. I haven't set foot in the place in two years. The drive there and back was no longer something I could do on autopilot. Too many changes along the route. 

My list of gottas went down by one and up by three. Big things are afoot, but I feel like I'm walking on a shrinking iceberg. 

I cleaned half a huge glass door today, inside and out. Seeing clearly everything else that needs attention around here gave me pause. 

A heart close to my own is hurting and I'm feeling it too. 😓

 

mixing mediums

Musical brain candy. I've used this song in the book in a way that you'll never hear it again without thinking of that scene. 
 

My ace mechanic joined me in the studio for a few minutes yesterday and his unspoken comment was, "Ma. You need to get this stuff out into the world."

"Front Runner" 2009   72"x42"  

Digging around in the archives here, I'm recognizing that I have twenty+ years of work that has never been made public or marketed seriously. Was I waiting until I was dead? 

More dominos line up to make that satisfying clickety-clicks as they go down, all relaxed and grateful they are no longer standing at attention. You're welcome. 

There's a shitpot of admin stuff, taxes, and the like, that just got bumped for more fun stuff to be announced soon. 

More brain candy:

Wheels

 

Lordy, this row of dominos!

After months of putting it off, I brought my car back to the Good tire place. The driver's side front tire kept losing just a few pounds of pressure. The warning light would come on the dash almost weekly.  Jake said that at that slow rate it was not the tire, but most likely the valve itself. 

I'm seen promptly at the appointed time. I'm watching through the glass as the mechanic took off the tire and dismounted it from the rim. He frowned and rolled it to the manager who rolled it out to me. No excessive wear but there was a deep fissure in the sidewall that followed the curve of the wheel. Dry rot he said. Old age. No surprise, the front tires were 6 years old. I bought new ones for the rear just pre-Covid.  New front boots for baby, 256$. 

I took him out on the interstate to feel it. Magic Carpet time! There is nothing like the feel of driving on new tires. No more dipping into turns. Faster! I didn't even look at the dash, just drove as fast as I dared and ran out of road pretty quick. Took the exit ramp like Daytona and braked to sane and civilized for the merge. Cheap thrills are the best and hard to come by these days.

There was a muffled clunk from the rear as if I'd picked up a clod of mud that plastered itself up inside the wheel well. Didn't think much of it. A few miles down the road, I was hearing an odd rumble when I applied the brakes, which worked as accustomed, but the sound got louder as I got closer to home. Not a good sound. 

Jake came with Charlie after school to look into the trouble. There was plenty. I needed new brake pads, both rotors,  and a set of brake calipers (that was the clunk). All of this, about 400$ in parts, completely coincidental to the tire thing.  He won't have the two hours of daylight and time until tomorrow and I won't let him work if it's raining. Sunday should be sunny and 60 here, so here I am, nowhere to go and no way to get there, even if I was so inclined. 

There will be some miles come Sunday.

parking a project

 

"Undertow" 2020  (to be continued)

Tarot card of the day: Death. Change is here for the best. Difficult, but necessary.

This piece has been an exercise in self-indulgence from the beginning. From indiscriminate choices of cloth (each piece a treasure), to the repetition of favorite stitches, and worse, the unwillingness to see, even look at the whole because I already knew the design flaws were many.

It's very needy, but I'm not seeing any solutions, so I'm going to park it deep in the closet and attend to the other things that need my full attention. 

I remind myself that "Revisions"- now serving as the backdrop for my header- was a disaster when I nearly dismembered it and made it "go dark" into the depths of the closet for years.

All things in their own time.

Hearts and Stuff

On a happier note, Meet Cute Press took wing earlier today, Valentine's edition. Something light and fun. 

I have a short contribution. Maybe a couple of brand new troublemakers in  Pillow Talk. 

I feel like I'm sneaking up on my new, writer self. Baby steps, but steppin'.

The week that was

 

This is a fairly accurate representation of the mood of the entire week. Damp, cold, and strange. Deadlines and distractions.

Dr. Mudd, you may stand down. Infamy has a new name. trump.

The impeachment was cathartic, if unsuccessful. I couldn't help but wonder at the gentility of the process, and the great sincerity and skills brought by the House managers, Jamie Raskin in particular. 

Once again, the Senate showed itself to be in thrall to the well of poison presided over by the former and forever disgraced, president.

Now, we'll see what his Clown Car lawyers will do in a real court of law. Georgia and New York, draw straws. And the civil suits brought by the victims of the insurrection will pick what's left of his bones.

The only way the Republican party can save itself from this contamination is to repudiate him and his supporters. I plan on supporting anyone who runs against any of the cowardly scum who voted to acquit. Shame. 

In local news, THIS is not my cat, despite the fact that he nearly knocked me down the front steps when I got home from the doctors. He bolted OUT of the cat flap and flashed past me. 

I opened the door to find my entire feline trio in the living room, all big-eyed, going, "Me? I didn't invite him in, but he is pretty handsome, doncha think?"

day two

 I spent the better part of yesterday learning a new cell phone. Turns out there's a serious learning chasm between LG2 and LG6. I'm a long way from the finer points, especially with the camera, but time and practice will pay off.  The phone beeps and chirps for reasons still not clear and for no reason, Google chides me to be more specific about why I'm cursing. 

The impeachment proceedings have been riveting, compelling, and disturbing. I don't know if there was any defense presentation today. After yesterday, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that that clown car was last seen driving into the Potomac River. Chances are real good, he's going to stiff them. I would. But, in the face of the evidence presented (so far) by the prosecution, there is no defense. 

The disturbing part? There will be those who will vote to acquit him and millions of Americans who agree with that. Many of the faithful, those who have been arrested for their actions on January 6 are already realizing how they've been used and tossed aside. 

Are there enough decent men and women in the GOP to convict him? That remains to be seen. 

Later, I was relieved to turn off all devices and spend some good time with my copirate. I picked him up from school early and we took a picnic in the park. A fine day. Afterward, I returned to the horror show.

And now, I'm double-timing it to get the real work done. Two big check-offs on the list tonight. 

This is temporary, but a necessary start. Using WYSIWYG web builders (what you see is what you get) would be a whole lot easier if I was not inclined to tinker with the coding that I learned before such things existed.  It's much like Jenga - touch one thing wrong and CRASH!

I can feel my brain grooves flexing.

the lost nap

This Monday (which is really my Friday) churned into a flurry of mental activity early. Emails, phone calls, appointments, confirmations followed by a train of anxious "what ifs" and "what's that gonna cost?" 

I have one week to significantly overhaul my main website to let the world know I'm a writer, by the way. Promotional stuff is coming down the pipe.

And I have to write not one, but three back cover blurbs, one for each volume of the book. Silly me, I thought one was enough.

Good things, long-delayed got accomplished. Bailey will get to the vet for shots and worming. It's been so long since I've been there, I forgot the name of the damn placed and spent ten minutes worrying that the dear people might have retired. The best kitty docs!  I mapped the place and found them. Sheesh. 

Tomorrow, the dread phone replacement and Thursday, the ortho about my back - there's a big dread. 

So, at the appointed hour, I put my head on the pillow for the mandatory snooze that keeps me going until the end of my shift just after midnight. I closed my eyes and pretended I was sleeping. That usually works. Not today.  Instead, I lay there wondering:

Wouldn't it be smarter to hang a person up by their arms when you operated on their back? You know, stretch the spine out with gravity before you start putting in screws and shims or whatever. And how the heck do they get at the bones through the back? When all the bunged-up parts of the spine are on the bellybutton side? 

And how rife with Covid is the phone store going to be tomorrow? Shall I write my requirements on a slip of paper, leave it on the counter and wait outside? I can hold my breath for almost a minute. In the pool. 

And the chili cooking downstairs smells great but my eyeballs are sweating. Has he tinkered with my seasoning? And...and...

An hour went by and I never slept a wink. Coffee is my friend.

How's your Monday going?

 

Fauci's Ouchy -updated

 Every time I read or hear that, I laugh. The shot itself was tiny. A midge.  No turkey-basting needles needed. I fell into the well-oiled machinery of the county health department setup in an empty school. 

I brought stitching, but left it in the car. Just as well. I was distracted. People everywhere. Socially distanced, but there. 

On drive home my thighs started bothering me as if I'd been on the road for four hours. On real road trips, it's my signal to stop. Walk around, stretch, pee, have a snack and some water. The discomfort usually retreats. Not this time. I carried on with a busy day. By bedtime I was exhausted but unable to find a pain-free position to fall asleep. I rolled around like one of those forlorn hotdogs on the QT grill. Awake most of the night, led to the next day of more if the same plus a headache. That was the worst of it, all worth it for any measure of piece of mind.

My phone's camera is going out with panache. I have no idea what this is. Some internal self-examination?

Very Important addendum. As Grace so wonderfully described, beyond the aches there was a sensation of aliveness, as if my whole body was responding valiantly to a Call to Arms. She has a gloriously triumphant mantis. My inner warriors resemble Apis, the fearsome bull-headed Egyptian god complete with medieval broad and short swords. They take no prisoners.

For fun, if you can find it from 2001, go watch Osmosis Jones. 

Won't throw away my shot!

 Prepping to get my first vaccination. It's a nice long ride and a pretty day. Taking something to spend time with, but don't anticipate long lines. 

What is stranger than going for a purposeful long drive is the frame of mind I'm left in after a long day of focusing on Writing. Getting words on the page. Finding equal footing for each character. 

Addendum.
The shot was a piece of cake. Left my stitch bag in the car and was bored in the post-vac observation "lounge" which really could have used a bar and a piano player.

+2 hours. My lower back, ass, and
 legs ache. Two ibuprofen and back in the car, heated seat on high.

+20 hours. Mild headache, jacked-up tinnitus and the same body aches. I feel post rock concert but there was no show. This too shall pass. General Tso is on the way!